Career Book
A look into the Career of Rick Broome
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Tuesday, July 01, 2008 02:17:13 PM
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June 2008
January 2008
In Loving Memory of
January 2007 Lifelong Friend and Brother Glenn Ballantyne dropped by with world famous Roger Williams in Late December. Roger and his group just HAD to stop by to see the new studio! Roger and Rick spent most of the time discussing how they use their talents and how thankful they were.
Parents Weekend 2006
August 23, 2006
Here are a few photos just taken of my new
studio at night. The lighting is very "ethereal" when seen in person. Once I
get the Starlite murals of the night sky painted on the ceiling above my
Boeing (while I play Michael Angelo) plus complete the Starlite murals in
front of and on the right side of the jet the illumination under blacklight
will enhance the lighting display even better. But that is going to take a
while to complete.
 
The above photos were taken tonight with my
standard studio lighting. There are 17 individual 20 amp circuits that supply
power to the new studio. All of the track lighting spots and floods are on
dimmer switches. Photos show the lights dimmed. It can get very bright in
the new studio! And note how my wing tip light fixture illuminates my
painting easel areas perfectly including under "Starlite" conditions.
Once the contractor is finished we will spend
a couple days figuring what paintings to hang and where to put them. The
carpet will take a few weeks to arrive as it is a special order item. The
four ceiling fans are remotely controlled by preprogrammed devices which
allows a lot of options such as setting fan speeds to automatic according to
temperature programing. They really circulate the air and yet the way I
designed my painting area with the 727 wing tip lighting fixture hanging at
standard landing gear height above the floor the air from the ceiling fan
above where my easels will be located is blocked by the wing tip.
The air conditioner is a commercial unit and
puts out a tremendous volume of air. The ducts run through the floor area and
this heats it in the winter while taking advantage of the cooler conditions in
the summer. It is very effective although quite loud when it is on high speed
blower. That too is programmed to variables I am in control of.
Although these photos were taken in the dark
I tried to show the red and blue colored spot and flood lights that are
directed onto the 727 fuselage. I call this my "theatrical" lighting and once
my blacklights are installed it will be much more effective. The red spot
over the passenger loading door looks fantastic! From inside the cabin in the
dark it really works great too as seen in the photo on the right. And once
the boarding stairs are finished the lighting will be a reminder of United Air
Lines famous "Red Carpet Service" that was a popular marketing tool in the
1950 and 60s. There are four blue flood lights that illuminate the fuselage
above the cabin windows. They look great in person but are difficult to
photograph. I will probably have to go to a brighter wattage on these
adjustable track lights. Plus we can always install additional track lights
and spots.
Also, (after the carpet is installed) I will
use colored "rope lights" on the floor down both sides of the aisle seen
above. (Note the tempered glass guard railings which give some great
reflections.) This will be a cool addition to the night lighting effects.
These dual blue rope lights will go past the walkway to my old studio too.
That entrance is seen on the left side of the fuselage in the left photo. The
right photo shows the view up the walkway toward the door into our kitchen.
So this section of the display will look like a miniature taxiway complete
with the blue taxi lights! Also the galley door opens to give access to the
old studio or back into the jet. There will be a wet bar eventually added in
the galley where the food carts are located.
Just for grins I included a copy of my super
rare photo which I took of the Beatles getting off the American Flyers
Electra in Denver when they came to do their big concert in 1964. I was
fortunate to be at Stapleton and get this fantastic photo of the Fab Four
as they climbed down the stairs to waiting limos. They were whisked off to
downtown Denver warehouse for media interviews. I overheard where they were
headed and was also able to get some additional photos there
too. Unfortunately I didn't have an extra roll of film! The Beatles were so
new to the media that they actually wore name tags. The City of Denver gave
them Western style vests to wear with their name tags sewed on.
Unbelievable!
And finally to fill the space, I also
included a photo of my fantastic and original Daytona Blue 1963 Chevy Corvette
Sting Ray which we owned for fifteen years ...
Best!
Rick
March 14, 2006
Just one step away from the old studio is the galley
area of our United Airlines Boeing 727 display. March 2, 2006 Here is some aviation history! In 1955, Boeing first flew their 700 series of jet airliners with the inaugural flight of the famous Boeing Model 707. It was a four engine airliner that first entered International service with Pan Am a few years later thus beginning the jet age in 1958. American Airlines followed the domestic launch of the jet age a few days later with two nonstop flights simultaneously flying from New York City to Los Angeles with their Flight One at the same time as Flight Two took off the opposite direction from Los Angeles to New York City. Prevailing westerly winds allowed that with Flight Two arrived at it's east coast destination about fifty minutes before Flight One arrived at LAX.
The 707's mighty jet engine nacelles hung from the
wings, two per side, and were called engine pods. The next model in the 700
series was the 717 which was very similar in design. Over 650 were built to
serve as the military version of the jet. The Air Force designated this version
of the 707 as their Model KC-135. It went in service as the primary jet
refueling and cargo airplane for the Air Force in 1957 and is still in service
despite the fact that the last one was built in 1962! The very first one that
was built continued to fly for the Air Force for over 40 years until it was
retired in the late 1990s
The largest and most advanced version of the 727
(which is what we have) was almost 160 feet long, weighed over 200,000 pounds at
maximum gross weight, and could carry about 200 folks in high density seating.
It is also the fasted airliner in the sky although with today's fuel prices the
jet is not flown at its maximum possible speed of over 650 miles per hour. The
727 was "stretched" to achieve this massive size and the largest version (like
ours) was actually longer than the huge four engine 707. The fuselage diameter
of all of these airliners and the 757 are identical measuring 12 feet six inches
across. This allowed six abreast seating in economy or coach. The purchase price
of a 727 was nearly $70 million dollars plus the cost of the interior and paint.
The list price for a new 737 runs between $65
million for the short fuselage version to over $125 million dollars each for the
stretched job that carries almost as many souls as our 727. Because it is a twin
engine airliner with computer assisted flight deck there is no flight engineer
on the 737. Therefore there are only two seats in the cockpit. Our 727 by
comparison has a much larger cockpit and sports five seats. However, the
diminutive 737 still has the same identical nose section and ten front window
design as the original 707 and her bigger sister 727.
In the early 1980s the twin-engine 757 and wide body 767 were designed, entered production, and began flying in airline service. They both featured totally electronic "glass" computer screens in the cockpits, huge engines and also are still being built.
The huge twin engine 777 was next in the series and and entered airline service in 1994. The massive turbofan engines mounted on the wings are almost as big in circumference as the entire fuselage section of the 707 thru 737 series! The "triple seven" as it is commonly called, is in fact almost as big as a 747. It flies almost as fast too (with half the engines) and also only requires a two man crew. These are primarily used on long haul flights like Denver to London.
Last year Boeing announced that they will begin production of the very highly advanced and extremely economical Boeing 787 "Dream Liner." This latest Boeing jetliner is now in the prototype construction phase and scheduled to have its first flight later this year. It is also a very large twin engine airliner capable of flying 250 folks over 9,000 miles non stop.
Boeing chose the number Seven for their airliner
series designation in 1955. Of course they expected to build derivatives from
their first commercial jet announced to be the Boeing 707 series. Their rival
Douglas Aircraft Corporation, started building and designating their airliners
with the Douglas Commercial (DC) series starting with the DC-1 in 1935. They
designed the DC-1, DC-2, DC-3, and so on till the last piston engine DC-7 was
built in the 1950s. It was a huge four engine piston powered airliner.
February 7, 2006
We got the nose gear down and locked today. It was a piece of
cake actually. Over the weekend (if I get time) I plan to pressure wash the
inside of the wheel well. It is in excellent shape actually but dusty from four
years storage in the desert. Thankfully, the highly dangerous hydraulic fluid (Skydrol)
was flushed out and replaced with mineral oil. Some of it got on the floor when
we lowered the gear and bled off the hydraulic system. But we also started
putting up the sheet rock today so I swept up some drywall dust and shavings to
help soak up what is left of the mineral oil drips in front of the tires.
January 26, 2006 Medical Kit
January 19, 2006
Currently the final framing is being completed
around our United Boeing 727-222A. You can see the stairs and bridge that lead
from my new studio into our home on the left. The door in the basement (pink
now) is four feet wide and leads to my research library and production studio
for self-publishing my aviation art on canvas. The view on the right above is
looking toward my new studio painting area. Ten feet of 727 wing tip will hang
over my easel providing illumination for both regular lighting and special
blacklights to create my Starlite paintings. The ceiling height next to the
triangle diffused lighting window is almost 24 feet high. Large clearstory
windows are above the main roof support beam which can be seen in the top right
of the photos above and below.
As seen above this is how the exterior now appears
before landscaping. The specially formulated stucco will be applied in color
that matches our home. Final application will be delayed until weather
conditions are ideal. Walls are six inches thick in most locations and over ten
inches thick on the north side of the studio. Note that the rain gutters and the
shingles have now been installed too. The insulation will be installed in a week
or so after the framing has been inspected; building materials are still showing
inside the structure. Billie has been giving prayers of thanks now that the 18
foot extra section of fuselage has been moved to the south side of our home. It
will be enclosed as an operational shop and storage area.
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